
PROCEEDINGS 



OF, THE 



OVERSEERS OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY 



RELATIVE TO THE 



Slate JEfstutbatices in t$at Seminars, 



AUGUST 25, 1834. 






PROCEEDINGS 



OVERSEERS OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY 



RELATIVE TO THE 



LATH DISTURBANCES IJiT THJ1T SE.VIJSTJ1RY 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



OVERSEERS OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 



THE 



REPORT ACCEPTED, 



AND THE 



RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THEM 



ON THE 



25™ OF AUGUST, 1834, 



RELATIVE TO THE 



Hate Etstttrfcances in tfjat Seminary 



/ 

BOSTON: 

PRESS OF JAMES LORING. 



4% 



PROCEEDINGS, &c 



At a meeting of the Overseers of Harvard University, in the 
Council Chamber, Boston, on Thursday, 31st of July, 1834, the 
President of Harvard University made the accompanying State- 
ment,* relative to the late disturbances in the University, &c. 

Whereupon, Voted, That Hon. John Quincy Adams, Hon. Levi 
Lincoln, Rev. Dr. Codman, Hon. Benjamin T. Pickman, Hon. 
Alexander H. Everett, be a Committee to consider the same, and 
also to prepare an Address to the public upon the intimate con- 
nexion of an Institution like that of the University with sound mor- 
als, correct principles, and an exemplary deportment on the part 
of the students, with a view to effect a change in public opinion 
favorable to a strict limitation of the privileges of the University, to 
such young men only as manifest, by their conduct and professions, 
a just estimate of the value and use of the advantages secured to 
them by the piety, virtue and beneficence of their ancestors. 
Attest, JOHN PIERCE, Secretary. 

At a meeting of the Overseers of Harvard University, on the 
21st of August, 1834, a Report was presented by the above Com- 
mittee, whereupon, after some debate thereon, Voted, that the 
whole subject be recommitted to Hon. John Quincy Adams, Hon. 
Richard Sullivan, Hon. James Savage, Hon. John Cotton, and 
Rev. Convers Francis. 

Attest, N. L. FROTHINGHAM, Secretary pro tern. 

* See document D. annexed. 



2 

At a meeting of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University, 
on Monday, the 25th of August, 1834, 

The Committee of the Board of Overseers, to whom was re- 
ferred the statement made by the President of the University to 
the Meeting of the Board, on the 31st ult., relating to the recent 
disturbances among the students of that Seminary, together with a 
vote of the Board, directing them to prepare an address to the 
public,, with reference to those disorders, ask leave to present the 
following Report upon the subjects referred to them. 

It appears by the statement of the President, that from the 1 9th 
of May last, until the close of the collegiate term on the 17th of 
last month, a series of riotous and disorderly proceedings have taken 
place, unexampled in the history of that Institution, and in which 
numbers of individuals, belonging to each of the four Classes, have, 
with various degrees of guilt, participated. 

It is perhaps in the nature of this and all similar Institutions, 
that the spirit of combination among the undergraduates, occasion- 
ally allies itself with individual transgression, to screen the offender 
from punishment, and to set at defiance the exercise of lawful 
authority. 

Examples of this nature, too, have become more frequent, since 
the prevailing temper of the age has relaxed the rigour of the an- 
cient discipline, and the pupil has been encouraged to consider 
himself in a standing rather of equality than of subordination to his 
Instructers* 

The friends of Harvard University have, in more than one in- 
stance, had occasion to lament the occurrence of such discreditable 
transactions, which have always terminated, as they must terminate, 
in the discomfiture of these unwarrantable combinations. 

But there is within the recollection of your Committee, no pre- 
vious example of disorders, in their origin or in their progress, so 
unprovoked and unjustifiable, on the part of the students, as in the 
present case — none in which the contumacious and ungovernable 
temper has been so strongly marked, both in action and in elabo- 
rate argument. 

To present this their deliberate conviction in the clearest light, 
they have deemed it their duty to ascend to the primary and orig- 
inal incident, to which all the subsequent disorders are to be traced 



3 

— and, as a pledge of their own impartiality in coming to their 
conclusions, they have preferred taking the statement of that inci- 
dent from the narrative of the individual himself, with whom it 
originated, as contained in the Circular of the Senior Class, rather 
than from the published statement of the President and Faculty, 
dated on the 4th of June. By the student's own statement it ap- 
pears, that at a Greek recitation of proper names, after being once 
corrected by his Tutor, for an erroneous translation, he proceeded 
till the Tutor " again objected ;" and then, turning over the leaf, and 
seeing there were a good many more of them, told the Tutor " he 
did not care to recite them." It is impossible not to perceive in 
this an open and explicit refusal to proceed in the performance of 
his duty of reciting, and equally impossible not to discern a public 
and flagrant insult, in the presence of his fellow students, to the 
Tutor before whom he was reciting. 

The Tutor, very naturally and justly offended, instead of in- 
stantly dismissing the section, and reporting the offender to the 
President, insisted upon his authority in general terms, which 
the student peremptorily denied. There is a subsequent at- 
tempt, in the letter of this young man, to transfer the question of 
the controversy between him and his Instructer, from his first 
refusal to proceed in the recitation to the assertion of authority by 
the Tutor — but this cannot be permitted — the offence was in the 
first refusal — there was the defiance of the lawful authority of the 
teacher, and there was the public insult to his person. The at- 
tempt afterwards to draw a line of distinction between the general 
acknowledgment of the authority of the Tutor, and the denial of 
such an authority as that which he claimed, appears to the Com- 
mittee, no other than a subterfuge, to change the state of the ques- 
tion, urged by the consciousness of wrong in the first offence. 

That offence appears to the Committee, from the individual's 
own representation of the facts, to have been of an aggravated 
character, combining a wanton defiance of lawful authority with 
unprovoked personal insult. They are of opinion that, under all 
the circumstances of the case, he was, in the permission to take 
up his connexions without mark of censure, treated by the Faculty 
with signal indulgence — an indulgence, which he could be the less 
entitled to claim, as being of an age no longer excusable from the 
infirmity of childhood, or the ignorance and levity of early youth* 



Some allowance should indeed be made for the delicacy of the sit- 
uation in which he had placed himself, and for the mortification of 
being, at such an age, repeatedly corrected for an erroneous trans- 
lation of proper names. His age might make the corrections of a 
Tutor more unpalatable to his pride ; but as it could not exempt 
him from the authority of the Laws, the Committee think that the 
course, which, after finally declining to apologise for his fault, 
he adopted, of withdrawing from the University, was judicious ; as 
the consent of the Faculty to his withdrawing without censure, was 
mild and generous. 

Yet these are the circumstances at which, we are informed by the 
circular of the Senior Class, as soon as they were known, " the 
classmates of this student manifested the greatest indignation," and 
although he earnestly requested them to make no disturbance, yet 
some of their number were so exasperated, as to show their dis- 
pleasure by breaking the windows, and destroying the furniture in 
the recitation room of the obnoxious officer. It further appears, 
also, that they manifested their displeasure, by assailing with stones 
the watch whom the Faculty had been under the necessity of ap- 
pointing for the protection of the property of the University from 
the effects of this displeasure. 

The Committee are of opinion, that there was as little of reason 
for this indignation, as there was of justification for the manner in 
which it was manifested. The circular of the Senior Class avows 
their inability to state, why the Instructer should have been so 
eager to assert his dignity and authority in this particular instance, 
while he neglected to report to the Faculty many instances of gross 
disrespect. It appears to the Committee, that this fact, of itself 
fully accounts for the proceeding of the Instructer in reporting this 
particular case ; if he had overlooked instances of grosser disre- 
spect than that avowed by the offender in the present instance, 
it is easy to perceive, in the ill requital of prior forbearance, a very 
sufficient motive for the recurrence to the authority competent to 
meet the disposition to disrepect, with chastisement. 

From the time of these outrages, the 21st of May, a series of 
proceedings, not less disorderly, and in which all the four Classes 
more or less participated, ensued, from day to day, until the last 
of the month. The Committee deem it unnecessary to enter into 
a detail of transactions, painful to every friend of correct morals, 



of the candour and modesty which are the fairest ornaments of in- 
genuous youth, and of the laws of the land. The Committee 
are happy to find honourable exceptions in each of the four Classes, 
but the prevailing temper, apparent in the major part of them, is 
such as the Committee cannot pass over without the expression of 
their decided and unequivocal reprobation. 

This temper was displayed, not only by the destruction of the 
College property, but by successive combinations of single Classes 
and of the whole four, at some of which, shameless resolutions 
were adopted to commit, jointly, outrages on the Laws of the 
University and of the State ; while at others, petitions to the 
Faculty were gotten up, requiring them to reverse their own acts, 
and, in one instance, to restore an unmatriculated student, who 
had been detected in making disturbance, and temporarily dismiss- 
ed from the Seminary. 

For the disorders of unlicensed meetings, and for the indecencies 
of irreverend and riotous noises at the times and place of daily 
worship, the discipline of the University, and the authority of the 
Faculty supplied competent remedies. But for the violent 
destruction of property, and the wanton assault upon persons, 
sheltered by the spirit of combination, and screened by the dis- 
honourable concert for the suppression of truth, and evasion of 
testimony, the powers of the presiding officer and of the Faculty 
afforded no adequate means of detection and punishment. After 
a week of daily outrages and defiance of the Laws, the President 
sent for a competent number of the two younger and most disor- 
derly Classes, and gave them distinct and explicit notice that, in 
conformity with the Laws of the University and of the State, if 
the disturbances should continue, it would be the duty of the Fac- 
ulty, and that duty they would, however reluctantly, discharge, to 
turn over the violators of the public peace and destroyers of the 
property of the University to the animadversion of the civil tribu- 
nals. The disturbances did, nevertheless, continue, and after a 
second week of reproof and exhortation, and of temporary dismis- 
sions, for reiterated trespasses, it was determined, by a vote of the 
Faculty, on the 2d of June, that a prosecution should be instituted, 
before the tribunals of the State — a measure, which, on the same 
day, received the sanction of the Corporation. 

2 



Hitherto the Senior Class, though by no means unexceptiona- 
ble in their conduct upon this emergency, had at least refrained 
from taking an active part in that portion of the disturbances which 
involved violations of the Law. In the general organization of the 
University, there is understood to be, and in the experience of 
ordinary times there is, in fact, in the Senior Class, a degree of 
discretion, of gravity and of self-respect, which not only pre- 
serves them from the disorders to which the younger Classes are 
more liable, but serves as a salutary control over those younger 
Classes themselves — a. control of good example — a control of 
maturer age ; of longer experience — of consideration, acquired by 
a career of estimable conduct, approaching to the conclusion of 
that probationary term of the College, and to the honourable re- 
wards of Collegiate honours, for time profitably spent and learning 
reputably acquired. It is with deep regret, that the Committee 
are now called upon to bear their testimony to conduct in a major 
portion of the present Senior Class, signalized by the reverse of all 
this. 

On the 7th of June, it appears by their own statement, this 
Class had a meeting, (without permission,) at which they appoint- 
ed a Committee to inquire into the causes of the present difficul- 
ties, and to state those facts which were not contained in the 
President's Circular. They affirm that they had taken no part 
in the recent disturbances ; which affirmation, as the Committee 
have observed, is not strictly correct. They had taken what 
the Committee consider a very unwarrantable part in those dis- 
turbances, first, by joining with the other Classes in petitioning for 
the restoration of an unmatriculated Freshman under censure of 
the Faculty for misconduct, and, secondly, by sending a separate 
Committee to the President with an insulting inquiry, whether the 
dismission of this Freshman had been ordered in conformity with 
the Laws. But their motive, it seems, for instituting this inquiry 
into the causes of the difficulties, is, that the President had thought 
proper to publish a Circular, containing a statement not believed, 
by the students generally, to be full and correct, and which they 
thought calculated to make a false impression on the public mind. 

To correct the assumed errors, and to supply the alleged de- 
ficiencies of the President's Circular, is, then, the avowed purpose 
of these proceedings of the Senior Class. The inquiry naturally 



presents itself here, who constituted the Senior Class a Court of 
Errors and of Appeals from the official acts of the President of the 
University — and the Committee deem this inquiry of peculiar in- 
terest to the Board of Overseers, inasmuch as they perceive, in this 
reversal of the proper relations between the Senior Class and the 
President of the University, a disposition, on the part of the Class, to 
assume the performance of the functions appropriate to the Board 
of Overseers themselves. If the Senior Class were aggrieved by 
any supposed omission or error in the Circular of the President, it 
was competent for them to petition the Board of Overseers for re- 
dress ; and to adduce testimony to any material error or omission 
in the Circular of the President. The other Classes were entitled 
to the same privilege. They might be complainants, but they 
could not be judges. This, however, is what they did undertake 
by the appointment of their Committee of inquiry. That Com- 
mittee promptly made their report, which was " accepted nearly 
unanimously," and ordered to be published in the name of the 
Senior Class of Harvard University. 

It appeared, accordingly, under date of the 11th of June, and 
in the form of a Circular, without designating to whom it was ad- 
dressed- — whether to the lawful authorities of the University ; to 
the parents and guardians of the self constituted juvenile Court of 
Errors and Appeals, or to the public. Had it been in the nature 
of an appeal from the proceedings of the Faculty, or from the 
statements in the Circular of the President, to the higher authori- 
ties of the University, it would have been doubtless entitled to at- 
tention ; but, as has been remarked, it should then have assumed 
the form of petition, remonstrance or complaint, to which, of 
course, the parties implicated would have had the common rights of 
defensive answer ancl reply. Even then, the inquiry would have 
remained, why the Senior Class should intrude itself as a volun- 
teer upon this controversy between its junior fellow students and 
the immediate College government. The Circular commences 
with a profession that the Class had taken no part in the recent 
disturbances — and although that pretension has been shown not 
to be entirely well founded, they had taken no part which the 
Government had thought it necessary to disapprove. Neither the 
Class, nor any individual member of it, was under censure, or even 
under question, upon any charge relating to these transactions — 



8 

what right, then, had the Senior Class to petition, remonstrate or 
complain against the acts of the President or the measures of the 
Faculty which had no bearing upon them ? 

As little occasion could there be for them to address their appeal 
to their parents and guardians for the vindication of their own con- 
duct. It had not been drawn into question. There was no com- 
plaint against them — no censure inflicted upon or impending over 
them. To the petition, in which they had joined with the other 
Classes, for the restoration of the dismissed, unmatriculated Fresh- 
man, the most respectful attention had been paid, and an answer, 
in which kindness and condescension are emphatically remarkable, 
had been returned ; nor does it appear that the very extraordinary 
inquiry, to use no harsher term, which, by a special Committee, 
they addressed to the President, whether the dismission of the 
unmatriculated Freshman had been pronounced conformably to 
the Laws, was received by the President with any manifestation 
of displeasure. Their Circular states that his answer was satisfac- 
tory to them — nor do they allege that it was accompanied with a 
rebuke, which, in the opinion of this Committee, from its nature, 
it richly deserved. In the treatment by the President and Faculty 
of the Senior Class to this period of time, as related by them- 
selves, this Committee can perceive nothing to censure or regret, 
unless it be a superfluity of deference to a very unreasonable re- 
quest, and a more than exemplary forbearance of resentment in 
answering an utterly unwarranted inquiry. 

The appeal of the Senior Class, therefore, was to the public — an 
appeal upon a subject, in which, by their own shewing, they had no 
direct concern— an appeal against the principal head and Instructers, 
to whose painful and assiduous labours they are largely indebted 
for the inestimable blessing of a liberal education, and from whom, 
by their own shewing, they had received nothing but kindness 
and condescension — an appeal in behalf of younger associates, 
confessedly guilty of a long series of violations of the Laws of the 
University, to the observance of which they had bound themselves 
and their parents or guardians were bound for them, and of the 
laws of the land, to which they were bound by their duties as 
citizens and as men. All these they had trampled under foot, 
day by day, for the space of a fortnight, without provocation, with- 
out intermission, not merely as individual trespassers, but in shame- 



less combination and conspiracy, by deliberate votes of whole 
Classes at meetings as lawless as the purposes for which they 
assembled, and as the offences committed in execution of their 
votes. 

If the motives of the Senior Class appear to the Committee of 
this Board wholly inadequate to justify them in issuing this Circu- 
lar, the principles disclosed, and the argument to sustain them con- 
tinued in it, are believed by them to be equally exceptionable. 

It has been seen that the narrative of the individual in whose 
impatience of correction and defiance of the authority of his Tutor 
the whole of these disorders originated, far from contradicting or 
shaking any one material statement of the President, most une- 
quivocally justifies every measure of the President and of the Fac- 
ulty relating to him. The Committee believe that he did himself 
justice in withdrawing from a position where he was liable to cor- 
rections which his spirit could not brook, and they would award to 
him a deserved tribute of applause for the moderation and sense of 
justice with which he dissuaded the students, his late associates, 
from the commitment of any disorders on account of his voluntary 
withdrawal from them. 

It would seem that a principal motive for the publication of the 
Circular was a hope to arrest the arm of public justice, which, after 
ample notice and warnings oft repeated and fruitless, had been in- 
voked for the protection of the University, and of the persons of 
its officers. The Circular of the Seniors denies two facts stated 
by the President, and which this Committee deem immaterial. 
The first, that there were disturbances at prayers on the morning 
of the 26th of May ; and the other, that the unmatriculated Fresh- 
man was dismissed for joining in the disturbances of the evening 
of that day. The intermission of one or two days in the series of 
disorders would even, if true, have afforded no reasonable ground 
for concluding that they were at an end, and as to the day when 
the unmatriculated Freshman was detected in making the disturb- 
ances at prayers, it can be of no importance w T hen it is considered 
that in the petition of the four Classes for his restoration, his guilt 
was admitted — a fact stated in the Circular of the President and 
not denied in that of the Senior Class. 

But the Circular of the Seniors attributes all the disorders, sub- 
sequent to the morning of the 26th of May, " to a want of discre- 



10 

tion on the part of the President," and this want of discretion 
consisted in the notification to the Sophomore and Freshman 
Classes, that if the disturbances and trespasses on the College 
property should be repeated " it was the determination of the 
Corporation to advise the Faculty to take such measures by legal 
process, civil or criminal, to punish or prevent such outrages as 
had been committed upon the College property, &c." 

In estimating the true character of this charge of want of discre- 
tion, preferred by undergraduates, scarcely yet themselves of the 
ordinary age of discretion, against the President of the University, 
a man of more than three score winters, who, for nearly forty 
years, has successively filled by the confidence of his fellow citi- 
zens, offices of the highest trust, legislative, executive, and judi- 
cial, civil and literary, and always with unsullied honour ; always 
with untainted reputation, the first sentiment that forces itself upon 
the Committee is, that of the rule of proportion in the moral stand- 
ing of the two parties, the accusers and the accused, before the 
community. The Circular of the Seniors claims, from the Gov- 
ernment of the College towards them, the delicacy and the ten- 
derness of the parental relation, and descants upon the duties which 
this relation imposes. It occurs to this Committee that in the 
relation of parent and child, there are correlative duties of the 
child towards the parent, of which the Senior Class and their Cir- 
cular are singularly forgetful. Have the authors and avowed ap- 
provers of that Circular, fathers of their own ? and if they have, 
and should, in the course of their lives, unhappily, have had occa- 
sion to observe in them " a want of discretion," do they feel as if 
it was for them in their filial relation to proclaim that indiscretion 
to the world ? Have they yet to learn that if there be one moral 
duty of a child to his parent more imperative than another, it is 
that of drawing a veil over his infirmities and of hiding the fault 
they see ? Have they yet to learn that the primeval curse pro- 
nounced in Holy Writ was upon the son who beheld and exposed 
his father's frailties ? Have they yet to learn — may they never 
learn by the contamination of their own example 

" How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is 
To have a thankless child ?" 

and is it for them, after this cold and heartless charge before the 



11 

public, of indiscretion, against him who stood to them in the place 
of a father — is it for them to claim from him and from the Gov- 
ernment, his associates, the tenderness and delicacy of the paren- 
tal relation ? we say from him and from the Government, his asso- 
ciates, because the charge of indiscretion, if well founded, falls as 
heavily upon them, and even upon the Corporation, as upon the 
President himself, since the measure against which the Circular 
of the Seniors' protests, was adopted with the concurrence of the 
immediate Government, and by the advice and with the approval 
of the Corporation. 

" But against this measure the Senior Class did and do pro- 
test." We then protested says the Circular, " and we still pro- 
test against the measure then threatened, and now put into execu- 
tion, of bringing the matter before the civil tribunals of the State." 
That is to say, they protest against the execution of the Laws of 
the University and the Laws of the land. Well ; and what then ? 
They allege a Law of the University, by whiph the damages done 
to the property of individuals belonging to the University, or to 
that qf the University itself, may be repaired, at the expense of 
the occupants of the rooms, or of the inhabitants of the Entries — 
and they quote, with peculiar emphasis, the provision by which, 
when property of the University is damaged, or destroyed, or pur- 
loined, it shall be made good by all the students who were in town 
at the time — and to meet the objection that the resort to this Law, 
however necessary, at times, has the inconvenience of involving 
the innocent equally in punishment with the guilty, they add that 
there is no one of them who would not choose to pay such an 
assessment, rather than permit any of their number to suffer the 
disgrace of a public prosecution. To the generosity of this senti- 
ment so far as it manifests the attachment of the members of the 
Senior Class to their fellow students, and their solicitude to pre- 
serve them from disgrace, this Committee would willingly yield 
their tribute of applause even when it extends that solicitude to 
preserve from disgrace those, who, by deeds of violence and out- 
rage, have disgraced themselves. To make good the damages 
done by an indiscreet associate, to preserve him from disgrace, 
would be an action altogether generous, if the expense of making 
it good were, in substance, as well as in form, levied by assess- 
ments upon the students themselves. But the members of the 



12 

Senior Class, in general, well know, that the assessments to make 
good the damage done by the destruction or purloining of the pro- 
perty of the University must fall not upon them, but upon their 
parents, and if their willingness to make this reparation, is to war- 
rant a protest against the resort by the Government to another 
mode of indemnification for property damaged or destroyed, it is 
incumbent upon them to shew that their parents are as willing to 
pay for such damages and destruction to screen the perpetrators 
from condign punishment, as themselves. 

But in the case of wanton and brutal outrage to or destruction 
of property, the ends of public justice are not answered by mere 
restoration of the property to the owner, or mere indemnity to him 
for its loss. The punishment of the culprit is as essential to the 
peace and security of the community, as the reparation of damages 
to the suffering proprietor. The punishment of the guilty, the 
very thing which the Senior Class are so liberal of their indigna- 
tion and of their money to prevent — the punishment of the guilty, 
the very consummation which they have violated all their own 
duties and forfeited all their own promises of subordination and 
submission to the Laws, to obstruct — the punishment of the guilty 
is the demand of public justice. Nor is reparation for property 
damaged or destroyed the only object for which the President, 
Faculty and Corporation have deemed it necessary to resort to the 
protection of the municipal Laws. The offenders, whom the 
Senior Class are so eager to screen from punishment, have violated 
the rights of persons as well as of things. The officers of the 
University were assailed with stones, and one of the indictments 
found by the grand jury of Middlesex County against a member of 
the Sophomore Class for his participation in these disturbances, 
was for an assault on the College watch in the night time. 

The Committee of the Board of Overseers believe they feel as 
intensely as any member of the Senior Class, the stigma of dis- 
grace which must attach to any individual convicted, by the ver- 
dict of a Jury, and condemned, by the sentence of the Law, for 
misdemeanors of so aggravated a description. They fervently 
hope that the individuals, arraigned upon those indictments, if 
brought to trial, may be acquitted ; but, with regard to recom- 
mending the discontinuance of the prosecution, the Committee are 
of opinion that its expediency should be left entirely to the con- 



13 

sideration of the immediate Government, without interference, in 
any manner, of the Board of Overseers. 

The Committee of the Board of Overseers, distinctly and ex- 
plicitly say, that upon full consideration of the measures adopted 
on those emergencies, by the President of the University, they 
discover no want of discretion, and that the charge- of it in the cir- 
cular of the Senior Class is as destitute of foundation, as it was 
indecorous in those by whom it was made. The measures of the 
President were, on the contrary, preeminently marked by coolness 
and consideration. He used, with the individual who first gave 
offence to his teacher, only the voice of expostulation and of per- 
suasion — he exercised, through the whole series of these transac- 
tions, no one act of authority without consulting and deliberating 
with his colleagues of the Faculty — he gave the admonition that 
the tribunals of the State would be resorted to, unless the outrages 
upon the property of the University should cease, only after advice 
to that effect from members of the Corporation. — He accompanied 
that admonition with the assurance that, if the disorders should 
cease, no further retributive notice of the past should be taken ; 
he received with composure, and answered without manifestation 
of resentment, inquiries from Classes, by Committees, upon which 
less of forbearance would have argued no indiscretion : and, in his 
deportment to every individual concerned in these disorders, the 
Committee are bound in justice to declare, that they see nothing 
but a scrupulous regard to every right of every student under his 
jurisdiction, tempering a firm and inflexible adherence to the prin- 
ciples of justice, to the highest interests of the Institution over which 
he presides, and to the Laws of the University and of the land. 

The principal, if not the only difficulty which the Committee 
of the Overseers foresee to the withdrawal of the prosecution be- 
fore the municipal tribunal, arises from the obtrusion of the Senior 
Class upon this controversy, and the untenable pretensions of their 
circular. Not content with protesting against the prosecution, they 
distinctly assert in the same breath with which they disavow it, the 
claim to exemption from the criminal Law of the State. They 
say, that should any student injure the person or property of any 
citizen, so far from interfering, they should rejoice to see punish- 
ment inflicted upon him according to the Law. But, say they, 

3 



14 

" the relation between the students and the University is very dif- 
ferent from that which subsists between one citizen and another" 
— and here it is that they make their pathetic appeal to the pa- 
rental relation which the Government of the University is said to 
bear towards the students, and bestow upon them their filial ad- 
monition and censure for the rash and precipitate step of authoriz- 
ing a prosecution at Law. 

The pretension that, with regard to the rights protective of per- 
son and property, there is any difference between the relations of 
the students to other citizens and to the University, is utterly 
unfounded, and cannot be submitted to for a moment. It is di- 
rectly in the face of the College Law, Chap. 14, s. 12, in conform- 
ity to which the resolution of the Faculty was adopted. It finds 
no warrant in the civil or criminal Law of the State, nor has it a 
shadow of countenance in the moral or civil relation between the 
parent and child ; for what is the nature of the argument ? Why, 
that because a father has the right to chastise his child for miscon- 
duct, therefore he has no resort to the criminal Law of the State 
against him, if he should damage or destroy his property, or assault, 
beat and wound his person. The absurdity of this pretension is 
as signal, as its depravity is revolting. 

Undoubtedly, if it were a supposable case, (and the deliberate 
composition and signature of this circular is the only circumstance 
that can warrant the supposition) if it were a supposable case, that 
the father of any member of the Senior Class who gave his sanc- 
tion to that circular had a son, capable of assaulting and beating 
his father, or of wantonly breaking the windows and destroying the 
furniture of his house, and should do so — undoubtedly, the yearn- 
ings of the father's heart would be long and agonizing before he 
could bring himself to the resolution of appealing to the tribunals 
of his country for redress, against the unnatural wickedness of his 
own son. But his right to make such appeal, who shall question ? 
And if, after suffering repeated instances of personal injury and 
property destroyed, he should give, to this worse than prodigal 
son, deliberate warning to cease his enormities, or that he would 
present him to the grand jury of the county, and after still repeated 
aggression, should take the step, then, according to the argument 
of the circular of the Senior Class, it would be a rash and precipi- 
tate step, because the father " ought certainly to use every means 






15 

in his power to avoid any step which tends, as this undoubtedly 
does, to the destruction of those feelings of kindness which should 
exist between" the father and his son. 

It is time that all the students at Harvard University should 
distinctly understand, that they have no privilege of immunity for 
acts of violence and outrage against persons or property, even 
though belonging to the University. That if one portion of them 
will brutalize themselves by deeds fit only for the most debased of 
the human species, and if the other portion of them, to screen them 
from detection and punishment, will have neither eyes to see, nor 
ears to hear, nor a tongue to speak the truth, there are tribunals 
in the country, armed with powers, not only to repair the damages 
of property destroyed or purloined, but to compel the delivery of 
testimony, and to tear from their bosoms, upon the pains and pen- 
alties of perjury, the guilty secret of crimes committed by their 
associates. That the exemption from the grasp of these tribunals 
is an indulgence always within the discretion of the Government 
of the University to withdraw ; and that if they claim, from the 
President and Instructers who superintend their education, the 
tenderness and the forbearance of parents towards their children, it 
must be upon the just and equitable condition, that they shall fash- 
ion their conduct towards those, their adopted parents, by the rules 
of subordination and of submission enjoined by the Laws of God 
and man upon the dutiful child. 

Wide, far and wide from this disposition of heart and mind, with 
deep mortification the Committee of the Board of Overseers are 
constrained to acknowledge, is the spirit of the circular issued in 
the name of the Senior Class of Harvard University. Its most 
remarkable character, is that of a captious and invidious misrepre- 
sentation of the conduct of the President, upon the occasion of the 
licentious and violent recent excesses among the younger Classes 
of the students ; but the harshness and injustice of its censures are 
not confined either to the occasion of the disturbances, or to the 
person of the President. It assumes throughout a tone of author- 
ity and correction, as of a superior towards an inferior. It deals 
out its censorial oracles upon the Government, with as little re- 
serve as upon the President, and the Corporation is equally, though 
tacitly, involved in its charges of rashness and precipitation. As 
if conscious of the extreme futility of its objections to the measures 



16 

of the President, relating immediately to these disorders, it resorts 
to general, unspecified imputations of defective memory and natural 
impetuosity of character ; of which the only exemplification that it 
gives is the vehemently reading to the students of two other Classes, 
of a written paper. They say, that perhaps the circumstances 
related by them were only the immediate occasion of the recent 
disturbances — that the causes have been long in operation — 
that the manners of the President, towards many of the students, 
have not been such as to conciliate their esteem or affection ; and 
they insinuate, that many of the students whom he has not made 
his friends entertain doubts of his sincerity and integrity. 

For nearly five and forty years, since President Quincy took, 
as a member of the then Senior Class of Harvard University, at 
the close of his career as a student, the highest honours of that 
Seminary, his life, his deportment, his manners may emphatically 
be said to have been exhibited in the presence of all his brethren. 
The life of no man of his cotemporaries has been more constant- 
ly under the eye of the public. It is not for this Committee to 
pronounce his panegyric — to many members of this Board, he 
was long, familiarly and intimately known, before any one mem- 
ber of the present Senior Class of Harvard University was born. 
He was known to their fathers — known to many of their grand- 
sires, in multiplied relations of life, public and private. It was 
reserved for the circular of the Senior Class of Harvard Univer- 
sity to convey, in doubting and ambiguous terms, an imputation 
upon his sincerity and integrity. The Committee of the Board of 
Overseers are unwilling to ascribe to the great majority of the mem- 
bers of the Class, base and dishonourable motives. They know 
with what unscrutinizing confidence associated men, even of good 
principles, of sound judgment, and of mature age, often give their 
assent to papers without examination, or exact knowledge of their 
contents. To the generality of the Class, therefore, who accepted 
this report of their Committee, no deep depravity is imputed, but 
the Committee of the Board of Overseers would betray their own 
trust from the Board, and the duty of the Board to the public, 
were they to refrain from declaring that they deem every individ- 
ual member of the Class who gave, in any manner, his sanction 
or approbation to that circular, to be justly chargeable with great 
want of discretion. 



17 

The statement, made by the President to the Board of Over- 
seers on the 31st of July, exhibits the proceedings of the Faculty 
upon the publication of that paper until the close of the collegiate 
term, and the distribution of the parts for performance at the en- 
suing Commencement. The circulars of the President and Fac- 
ulty of the 4th and 9th of June preceding, presented a summary 
of the proceedings of the Government and Corporation relating to 
these disturbances until that time. 

The result of these proceedings has been — 

1. That one member of the Freshman Class has, with per- 
mission of the Faculty, and without mark of censure, voluntarily 
taken up his connexions. 

2. That (with three exceptions) the whole Sophomore Class 
have been dismissed from the University ; and that the members 
of the Class will be readmissible upon a new examination, and 
certificates of good conduct, after the next Commencement. 

3. That one member of the Junior Class has been dismissed, 
for not less than one year, for disorderly conduct at prayers, on 
the 29th of May. 

4. That two Freshmen have been dismissed, for a term not 
less than six months, for disorderly conduct of the whole Class, 
on the same occasion, in which they participated. 

5. That two other Freshmen have been dismissed, for a term 
not less than nine months, for disorderly conduct in the entry of 
the chapel at the time of the performance of prayers, and in dis- 
turbance of the public worship, on the 30th of May. 

6. That two indictments have been found against three mem- 
bers of the Sophomore Class, at the Court of Common Pleas for 
the County of Middlesex — one against the three for a trespass — 
the other against one of the same three for an assault on the Col- 
lege watch in the night time. That these indictments are still 
pending, having been continued to the next term of the Court, on 
the 2d Monday of September next. 

7. That two members of the Freshman Class have been dis- 
missed — 'One, an unmatriculated student, for a year — the other, 
for five months, for disorderly noises at prayers on the 30th of 
June. 

8. That seven members of the Senior Class have been dis- 
missed, for an indefinite term, and thereby deprived of their de- 



18 

grees the present year ; and one has been admonished, and thus 
deprived of his part at Commencement, but not of his degree. 
Five of these Seniors having been concerned in preparing the 
circular of the Senior Class, and three of them active in promoting 
its acceptance by the Class. 

The Committee of the Board of Overseers are of opinion, that 
all the collegiate penalties in this enumeration have been properly 
and judiciously applied. With regard to the indictments before 
the civil tribunal, they deem it unnecessary to express any opinion 
of the guilt or innocence of the individuals arraigned. It will be 
within the discretion of the Faculty, to consent that the prosecu- 
tion should be withdrawn, in the event of the total cessation, 
henceforth, of all disorders among the remaining students of the 
University, and the return of all the Classes to the performance 
of their respective duties. 

Of those duties there remains nothing further to be performed 
by the Senior Class, excepting the performance of the usual liter- 
ary and oratorical exhibitions of Commencement day, and the 
reception of their baccalaureate degrees. That these duties will 
be cheerfully and honourably discharged, the Committee entertain 
a confident expectation ; nor would they permit themselves to 
harbour a doubt, but for instigations which have appeared anony- 
mously, in some of the public journals, which, if proceeding from 
any of the individuals, who, by their folly, have forfeited their 
right to the honours of the University, may be considered only as 
indications of pertinacious consistency in wrong, but which, if 
proceeding, as some of them purport to have done, from other 
sources, can only serve to prove that a gross and glaring misap- 
prehension of the reciprocal rights and duties resulting from the 
parental and filial relations, contracted and subsisting between the 
lnstructers and the presiding Officers of the University and their 
pupils, is not confined to the Senior Class of our most ancient and 
most honoured literary Institution. 

The Committee of the Board of Overseers will not believe 
that such a delusion can be permitted longer to exist, or receive 
countenance from the considerate minds of the elder portions 
of society, or from the well tempered affections of the paternal 
heart. They anticipate the return of the Senior Class of Harvard 
University to the performance of their duty. They anticipate 



19 

that this laudable example, as their last act, upon leaving the 
precincts of their Alma Mater, will be the signal of a like return 
of the Classes, hitherto their younger associates, but henceforth 
their successors. To the Senior Class is yet reserved the pow- 
er of exhibiting the honourable example of return from transient 
error to generous and liberal submission. To the rest the op- 
portunity is afforded, by redoubled application to their proper 
studies and by the cultivation of the temper truly suited to their 
condition, to make their own past indiscretions lessons for the at- 
tainment of future excellence. The Committee of the Board of 
Overseers specially approve the caution to the parents and guar- 
dians of the dismissed members of the Sophomore Class, not to 
encourage or advise them to apply for readmission, unless it be 
the unequivocal wish of the student himself, and his intention to 
conform himself to its Laws. If there be a youth, who, after all 
the admonitions he has received in the course of these transac- 
tions, not only from the Government of the University, but from 
the general tenor of the public sentiment upon his conduct, and 
from the anguish of his friends under the chastisement which it 
has drawn down upon him, can yet return to renew the promise 
which he has violated, of obedience to the Laws of the Univer- 
sity, and then prepared to break windows, destroy furniture and 
assail the College watch with stones or to join unlicensed Class 
meetings and vote riotous disturbances to the worship of Almighty 
God — or to give his sanction and approbation to " written pamph- 
lets studiously devised" — to slander the presiding officer and 
teachers, the nursing fathers elected by himself or his parents, to 
train him in the path of wisdom and virtue, if there be such a 
youth, Harvard University is not a suitable place for his abode. 
The mother of the lucid mind and spotless heart needs no such 
children — she discards them from her bosom forever. 

The Committee of the Overseers have thought it a substantial 
fulfilment of the charge committed to them by the Board, to pre- 
sent their views in the form of this report, rather than in that of a 
direct address to the public. The report itself, should it meet 
the approbation of the Board, may, by publication, serve all the 
useful purposes of such an address. The Committee believe 
there is no error in the prevailing public opinion in relation to 
these unfortunate disturbances, so far as the proceedings of the 



20 

Government, and of the students as well as the Laws of the 
University, and of the State, for the preservation of the public 
peace have been understood. 

As the result of their inquiries and of the views presented in 
this report, the Committee propose to the Board of Overseers 
the adoption of the following resolutions. 

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 

By Order of the Committee. 



At a meeting of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University, 
held at the Council Chamber, August 25th, 1834. 

Resolved, that the Students of Harvard University have no just 
or equitable claim to exemption from prosecution before the civil 
and criminal tribunals of the Commonwealth for trespasses upon 
property or against persons, whether belonging to the University 
or otherwise. 

Resolved, that the proceedings of the President and Faculty of 
Harvard University on the occasion of the recent riots and disturb- 
ances among the students at that Seminary, meet with the entire 
approbation of this Board. 

Resolved, that the Circular published in the name of the Senior 
Class of Harvard University relating to the recent riotous disturb- 
ances among the students at that Seminary is of a disorderly char- 
acter, and entirely inconsistent with the station and duties of 
undergraduates at the University. 



At a meeting of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University, 
holden at the Council Chamber in Boston on the 25th day of 
August, 1834, the above Report was read ; after full deliberation 
the question of acceptance was taken separately on each resolu- 
tion ; and thereupon each was adopted unanimously. 

Afterwards, the report having been accepted by the Board was 
ordered to be printed. 

Attest, N. Lu FROTHINGHAM, Secretary pro tern. 



(A.) 



HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 

JUNE 4, 1834, 



A series of trespasses having been recently committed upon 
the buildings and property of this Seminary, of a most injurious 
and disgraceful character, accompanied by a succession of disturb- 
ances, extraordinary and without cause, or apology, it has been 
deemed the duty of the Faculty to communicate to the parents 
or guardians of each member of the Institution, the nature and 
course of these outrages; — the proceedings, which have already 
been adopted, and the reasons of those, which it is deemed indis- 
pensable for the safety and discipline of the Institution to pursue. 

The exact course of events will be traced, in the order of their 
occurrence, and without comment. A simple statement of facts 
is all that is deemed necessary. 

On the 1 9th of May last, the Instructer of the Freshman Class 
in Greek, reported to the President that one of that Class, when 
reciting to him, stopped and refused to recite farther ; on being- 
told by his Instructer that when " he directed any thing to be 
translated, he expected it would be done," the student replied, " I 
do not recognize your authority," shut his book and paid no atten- 
tion to his recitation afterward. These expressions were used in 
presence of the reciting section. 

The student having been sent for immediately by the President, 
and questioned, did not deny, in any material point, the statement 
of his Instructer. The President, after attempting to convince him 

4 



22 

of the impropriety of such language, in his relation to the Instructer 
and the Institution, without success, thought it best to postpone any 
proceedings upon the subject, until opportunity should be given 
for any temporary excitement to subside. Accordingly he allowed 
a day to intervene. On the 21st of May, the President sent for 
him again. The student then said, that by the words which he 
used, he did not mean to deny the general authority of the In- 
structer to question him on his lessons ; and that he thought the 
words he used were, " I do not acknowledge such authority," add- 
ing that he never would recognize the right of any man to say to 
him, that " what he said must be done — must be done." — Being 
advised to see his Instructer, and make such apology or explana- 
tion as the circumstances of the case seemed to require ; he re- 
fused, and said that he had determined to take up his connexions 
with the Seminary. This he had a right to do ; being a man of 
full age ; (nearly 23 years old.) Being advised against such a 
step, and persisting in it, he was told, it was then necessary for the 
President to call a meeting of the Faculty, and ascertain whether 
they would permit his connexions to be taken up without some 
College censure. 

This was accordingly done. At the meeting of the Faculty, 
it was decided he should have leave to take up his connexions. 
It appearing that he had been advised against this step, and per- 
sisting in his intentions — the Faculty acceded. They j were 
accordingly dissolved by himself, voluntarily, on the 21st of May. 
On that night, (Wednesday) between the hours of ten and one, 
the room occupied by the Greek Instructer, above-mentioned, as 
a recitation room, was torn in pieces by some students, all its fur- 
niture broken, and every window dashed out. The windows of a 
room, occupied by the Steward of the College, were also destroy- 
ed, and those of a chamber, occupied by a Professor, were broken. 
The morning and evening daily prayers were, on the next day, 
(Thursday) interrupted by scraping, whistling, groaning and other 
disgraceful noises, commencing in the Freshman Class, and sec- 
onded by the Sophomore ; apparently, however, confined to a few 
in each. 

On this night a watch was set for the protection of the College 
property. It was attacked with stones by several students. An 



23 

affray ensued. One of the assailants was recognized, and reported 
to the Faculty. 

At the next morning and evening daily prayers (Friday) the 
disturbances were continued with renewed violence, by the explo- 
sion of crackers, and other modes of noisy annoyance. 

On the same evening, about midnight, the Chapel bell was rung, 
(a cord having been attached to it,) accompanied by great noises 
in the yard, which had an obvious connexion with the room of the 
same student, who, the night before, had the affray with the watch. 

The succeeding morning (Saturday) an inflammatory, written 
notice having been found on the advertising board of the Univer- 
sity, just before morning prayers, calling a meeting of the Fresh- 
man Class to petition for the removal of an obnoxious officer, it 
was taken down ; and the disturbances at prayers continuing, the 
Freshman Class were stopped after prayers by the President, and 
such a general address was made to them, as he thought would 
have a tendency to allay their excitement, by suitable explanations 
and remarks. 

On the succeeding Monday (26th of May) the disturbances 
were renewed. The President deemed it his duty, and after con- 
sulting members of the Corporation, determined to warn the stu- 
dents of the Sophomore and Freshman Classes of the danger to 
which they were exposing themselves. For this purpose, and as 
a mode most likely to be effectual, he sent for nine members of 
the Freshman and eight of the Sophomore Class, and that there 
might be no misapprehension, read to them, deliberately, a paper 
of the following purport — 

" That by the laws of the College, it was made the duty of the 
Faculty, and that he knew it was the determination of the mem- 
bers of the Corporation, to advise them if it should be thought 
necessary, to take such measures by legal process, civil or criminal, 
to punish or prevent such outrages as had been committed on the 
College property ; — that by such proceedings every member of 
the Class, might be compelled if necessary, under oath, to de- 
clare what" he knows of those outrages ; — that it was the earnest 
wish of the President and of every member of the Government to 
prevent such a resort ; — that if these disturbances were put an 
end to, no prosecution should be instituted ; — that if such disturb- 



24 

ances and trespasses were continued or renewed, the Faculty 
would be compelled by their duty to pursue that course." 

" The President then expressed his wish, to the young men, 
who had been thus sent for, that they would communicate the 
above to their Classmates — not in the character of a threat but as 
the performance of a duty, thus to give a friendly notice to induce 
well disposed young men to co-operate with the government, and 
to influence their Classmates to prevent farther outrages and dis- 
turbances." 

The same disturbances were repeated the same evening, and 
one of the Freshman Class was detected in making them. 

Faculty meetings were immediately held, and the student, who 
had been recognized as connected with the attack on the watch, 
was dismissed from the Seminary ; and the student detected in 
making the disturbances at prayers had his term of probation 
closed ; he not having been matriculated. Both of them had been 
permitted to be heard, before the decision of the Faculty took place. 

A petition was now prepared, and signed by a majority of all 
the students, praying for the restoration of the unmatriculated stu- 
dent, — admitting his guilt, but asserting that others were equally, 
or even more guilty, and that it was unjust to select him. 

This petition was presented, on the same day, by four members 
of the College, one from each Class. On the same evening, the 
whole Sophomore Class, (with three exceptions) absented them- 
selves from prayers. 

On the next morning and evening (Wednesday the 28th,) the 
Sophomore Class, (with the above exceptions) absented them- 
selves again in a body from daily prayers. 

On this evening, the Faculty again met, and, after long de- 
liberation, the following vote was passed. 

" Whereas, during the course of the last ten days, great dis- 
orders have occurred in the Sophomore Class, with repeated in- 
stances of indecent conduct, at daily worship, and other acts of 
insult and insubordination, indicating a state of excitement and dis- 
order, wholly incompatible, with the honour of the College and 
useful instruction ; and eventuating in a successive absenting them- 
selves of the whole Class, (with three exceptions) from daily 
worship, thereupon 



25 

" Voted, That all the members of the Sophomore Class, (with 
the above exceptions,) be dismissed from the College and be 
ordered to leave Cambridge immediately after Commons ; which, 
for that Class are to cease after breakfast." 

This Vote, it was understood by the Faculty, w r as not to be 
communicated to the Sophomore Class, in case they came into 
prayers the next morning and behaved in an orderly manner. 

The next morning (Thursday 29th) the Sophomore Class came 
into the Chapel, in a body, entering at the door, opposite to that 
at which they were accustomed to enter, and marching two and 
two, across the Chapel, took their seats, and as soon as the reli- 
gious services commenced, began a series of offensive noises, groan- 
ings, firing of crackers, to such a degree that the President deemed 
it his duty to request the officiating Clergyman, to suspend the 
attempt to proceed with those services, and dismissed the meeting. 

Immediately after this, the President communicated in succes- 
sion to the several members of the Sophomore Class the Vote of 
the Faculty, dismissing them from College, and ordered them to 
quit Cambridge before 12 o'clock. 

In the course of the forenoon, a series of disgraceful and riotous 
proceedings were had in the College yard for several hours. After 
which the Class went away. 

On the evening preceding (Wednesday 28th,) the Faculty had 
also taken into consideration the petition of the several members 
of the four classes of undergraduates, and passed the following vote. 

" At a meeting of the Faculty of Harvard University, 28th of 
May, 1834, the President laid before the Board the petition of sun- 
dry members of the four classes of undergraduates, requesting a 
reconsideration of the vote passed at the last meeting relative to 

and thereupon after great consideration, 

" Voted, That the President be requested to state to the Com- 
mittee, charged with the above petition, that from a high respect 
for the individuals presenting that petition, and the importance of 
the subject, the Faculty have again taken into their consideration 
the subject matter of the closing of the said student's probation, 
and the consequent ceasing of his connexions with the University, 

* The name of " the unmatriculated student" was here inserted. 



26 

and they find that by the laws of the College, whenever " a stu- 
dent, during the time of his probation, fails to manifest such a de- 
gree of disposition to good order, and obedience . to the laws as 
shall be satisfactory to the Faculty, his connexions shall cease." 

" They find also that, in this case, the said student did fail so to 
conduct himself to the satisfaction of the Faculty ; having been 
proved to their satisfaction to have been guilty of the offence on 
account of which his probation was terminated. His guilt is ad- 
mitted by the petition itself, and the ground upon which his resto- 
ration is asked, is that others are equally and even more guilty 
and have not, in like manner, been dismissed. 

" The Faculty did not " select" * 

from individuals proved to be equally guilty. On the contrary, 
he was the only one in relation to whom they had such satisfactory 
proof. And whenever similar proof shall exist against any other 
individuals, they will be dealt with, in like manner, as the laws 
and discipline of the University require. 

" Upon the most mature deliberation and examination, the Fac- 
ulty regret that it has become their duty under these circumstances, 
not to grant the request stated in said petition." 

This vote was communicated to the three remaining Classes, 
by delivering about noon of the next day, (Thursday 29th,) a 
copy to each member of the Committee belonging to the respec- 
tive Classes. 

Each Class met, immediately after Commons. And in the 
course of the afternoon the windows of three recitation rooms in 
University Hall, as also those of the entry were broken, and the 
furniture of two of them destroyed. 

On the same evening, the Freshman Class, with the exception 
of six or seven, came into prayers marching two and two, and 
took their seats on the Sophomore benches, and as soon as the reli- 
gious services commenced, began the same noises as before. This 
Class were now for the first time joined by the Juniors, in which 
Class scraping with the feet and knocking on the benches occur- 
red. Under all the annoyance, however, the religious exercises 
were performed. 

* The name of "the unmatriculated student" was here inserted. 



27 

On the next day (Friday 30th,) another Meeting of the Faculty 
was held, and one of the Juniors having been reported for being 
concerned in the noises at prayers of the preceding evening, and 
admitting the fact, he was dismissed from the College for not . less 
than one year. 

On the previous evening, the Faculty had taken into considera- 
tion the combination to disobey the laws, in the majority of the 
Freshman Class, evidenced by their entering the Chapel in a body 
and taking their seats on the Sophomore benches, in an irregular 
manner, and decided to apply a law of the College, which directs 
that in these cases, the most culpable, when known should be 
selected. 

On Friday morning, two Freshmen, both of whom admitted 
they had led the Class into the Hall, — one of whom also admitted, 
and the other of whom did not deny, that he had voted for the 
measure at the previous meeting of the Freshman Class, were 
deemed subjects most proper to be selected, for punishment, un- 
der all the circumstances ; and accordingly both were dismissed 
from the Seminary for a term, not less than six months. 

On Friday evening, while prayers were proceeding in the Cha- 
pel, with a very considerable degree of silence and quiet, the 
services were suddenly disturbed by a loud shout and clapping of 
hands and groaning in the North-lower entry of the Chapel, ap- 
parently made by persons running through it. 

The Faculty having been immediately called together, after 
prayers, it was proved to their satisfaction that several students, 
two of whom were Freshmen, and who were identified, took their 
stand in front of the Chapel, as the bell was tolling for prayers, 
and were seen beckoning to other students as if desirous to collect 
them together. Only, however, one or two joined them. They 
waited in front of the Chapel until the bell had ceased tolling 
for prayers, and until time enough had elapsed for the religious 
services to have commenced, when the whole collection ran to- 
wards the lower North-entry of University Hall, and as soon as 
they entered, the noise and the clapping was heard, which had 
disturbed the prayers. 

The two Freshmen who had been thus identified, being sent 
for by the Faculty, admitted all the facts above stated, and also 



28 

admitted that the noise was made while they were in the entry. 
They only denied they made it. On being told they were re- 
sponsible for it as accessories, and would be punished as such un- 
less they should show who did it ; both declined doing this, and 
were both dismissed from the Seminary for a term not less than 
nine months. 

This was communicated to them on the next day (Saturday 
31st). On the succeeding Monday (June 2d) the Faculty met, 
and the law of the College, Chap. XIV. s. 12, w r as submitted to 
them for their consideration, and in reference to the trespasses and 
disturbances which had occurred ; and in the following words, viz. 

" 12. In all cases of gross injuries or depredations upon the 
property of the University or others ; or of gross trespasses or 
injuries done to persons or property within the precincts of the 
University, or charged upon any of its members ; or whenever the 
nature and circumstances of the offence in the judgment of the 
Faculty require, — it shall be their duty to cause prosecution to be 
instituted before the established tribunals of the State, and the 
forms of proceeding to be pursued* which are usually applied to 
like crimes and misdemeanors when committed by other citizens, 
or residents, according to the laws of the Commonwealth." 

Whereupon it was Voted, that in the opinion of the Faculty, 
the nature and circumstances of the trespasses and disturbances, 
existing in the University, require that a prosecution should be 
instituted before the tribunals of the State. 

On the same day, the above proceedings of the Faculty w T ere 
submitted to the President and Fellows of the College, who there- 
upon Voted, " That in aid of the proceedings to be instituted by 
the Faculty in conformity with the law, the President be autho- 
rized to employ such counsel as he should see fit." 

On the same evening (2d of June) at a meeting of the Faculty 
it was Voted, " That the President be requested to employ coun- 
sel and take such measures, with their advice as he may deem 
expedient, to carry into effect the prosecution voted, at the last 
meeting." 

Signed, by Order of the Faculty, 

JOSIAH QUINCY, President. 



(B.) 



HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 

JUNE 9, 1834. 



In a Circular, addressed by the Faculty of this Institution, to 
the Parents and Guardians of the Students, on the 4th instant, it 
was stated that, with a few exceptions, the Sophomore Class had 
recently been dismissed from the College. The punishment of 
dismission is defined as follows, in the 14th Chapter, Section 7, 
of the Laws. 

" 7. Dismission is the separation of a Student from the Univer- 
sity for an indefinite or for a limited time, at the discretion of the 
Faculty ; and no dismissed Student shall be readmitted to the 
Class he left, or any other, without satisfactory testimonials of good 
conduct during his separation, and his appearing on examination 
to be well qualified for such readmission." 

In the present case, the dismission was for a time, wholly, 
indefinite. In deciding, however, upon the time of each Student's 
return, and upon the terms of his readmission, the Faculty have 
deemed it their duty to consult the permanent interests of the 
Seminary, and the essential requisites of discipline. Though, on 
occasions of such unlawful combinations, there is always a great 
difference, in point of guilt among the offenders, yet it is also 
always a difference, obviously very difficult to ascertain, even in a 
general way ; and to fix the proportions of guilt, with exactness, 
so as to apportion, adequately, the punishment justly due to each, 
is manifestly impracticable. 

5 



30 

Even the best disposed of those who may have engaged in such 
combinations, can have had no cause, or motive which will reduce 
his offence below the punishment provided by the laws of the 
College, for a misdemeanor. And although there must, in such 
cases, always be many who might be justly entitled to a higher 
degree of punishment, yet, where no satisfactory principle of dis- 
crimination can be found, the most unexceptionable rule to be 
adopted, seems in respect of the degree of punishment, to be that, 
to which even the least guilty are obnoxious, — and also in respect 
of the nature of punishment, it should be strictly Academical ; 
thereby to enable the Faculty on reexamination of the Student for 
admission, to make those distinctions as to the time and terms of 
readmission, as the actual evidence given at such examination of 
attention and study during absence may warrant, or as the evidence 
then possessed by the Faculty of each individual's participation in 
the principal offences may require. 

Under these general views, which it is believed the Parents and 
Guardians of the dismissed Students cannot fail to appreciate and 
approve, the Faculty have determined that they will receive ap- 
plication for the admission of any dismissed Student on or after the 
Saturday preceding Commencement next — and not before. 

Each Student may then present his application, in writing to 
the President. The case of each individual will be considered 
separately. On his application, he will be informed of the time 
fixed, for his examination ; — the examination of each Student will 
comprise the entire Greek and Latin of the Sophomore year, ex- 
cept Cicero's Brutus, in which the Class have been already ex- 
amined by a Committee of the Overseers ; and he will also be 
required to present three written exercises of the usual length, in 
each language. He will be also examined in the whole of 
Whateley's Logic. 

The examination in Mathematics will comprise the first part of 
the Mechanics, as far as to the subject of Dynamics, the rest of 
the Mathematics being excepted because the Class has been ex- 
amined in it by a Committee of the Overseers. 

The examination in the Modern Languages will extend to the 
whole studies of their respective sections during the student's 
absence. 






31 



The requisition of the Law, that the Student should appear on 
examination to be well qualified for readmission, will be observed. 

It is recommended to Parents and Guardians not to encourage 
or advise a student to apply for readmission, unless they are well 
satisfied that it is his own wish to rejoin the College, and his 
intention to conform to its Laws. 

Students of the Class who were not dismissed, may apply to 
the President, and receive his directions concerning the course 
they are to pursue. 

Signed, by Order of the Faculty, 

JOSIAH QUINCY, President. 



(C.) 



CIRCULAR. 



The Senior Class of Harvard University has taken no part in 
the disturbances which have recently prevailed in the College ; 
but the President of the Institution having thought proper to pub- 
lish a Circular, which contains a statement not believed by the 
students generally to be full and correct, and which they think is 
calculated to make a false impression on the public mind, a meet- 
ing of the Class was held on Saturday, the 7th of June, and a 
committee was appointed to inquire into the causes of the present 
difficulties, and to state those facts which are not contained in the 
President's Circular. This committee made the following report, 
which has been accepted nearly unanimously, and ordered to be 
published in the name of the Senior Class of Harvard Uni- 
versity. 

At the beginning of the present academical year, Mr. Dunkin 
was appointed by the Faculty Instructer of Greek. So far as 
scholarship is concerned, Mr. Dunkin, we are informed, is well 
qualified for his office ; but, from his extreme youth and inexpe- 
rience, or perhaps from some other cause, he has never been able 
to command the respect of his Classes. Of this fact there is suffi- 
cient evidence in repeated instances, where they have shown such 
a disregard for his authority, as could have proceeded only from 
some deficiency or fault on the side of the Instructer. Thus much 
we deem it necessary to state, in order to a proper understanding 
of the immediate occasion of the disturbances that ensued. On 
the 19th of May last, a member of the Freshman Class was re- 



33 

citing to this Instructer, when some difficulty arose between them, 
which may be best understood from the following account given 
in a letter, from the student himself, written before any disturb- 
ance had taken place in the College. We cannot question the 
truth of his statement, since he is a gentleman of undoubted ve- 
racity. The account of all that occurred in the recitation room is 
confirmed by the students of his own section. 

" That part of the recitation at which Mr. Dunkin took excep- 
tion, was a long list of proper names. I began reciting them, as I 
thought, correctly ; he objected, and asked me some questions 
about the cases of the different words ; I replied, as I thought, 
right, and proceeded again to translate. He again objected ; I 
then turned over the leaf, and seeing there were a good many 
more of them, told him I did not care to recite them. This evi- 
dently made Mr. Dunkin very angry, and he replied, " but if I 
say so, you will." I then told him I could not acknowledge any 
such authority in him. This he reported to the President ; I was 
called up, and made this same statement to the President. After 
some considerable conversation, he dismissed me ; he however 
sent for me again immediately, and was disposed to have the mat- 
ter settled amicably. I must remark here, that when I first call- 
ed on him, he insisted on my making an apology to Mr. Dunkin, 
and that I peremptorily refused ; on calling the second time, he 
did not so much insist, but strongly advised it ; but he said in con- 
clusion, he felt (in consideration of my previous conduct) disposed 
to let the matter drop, and not mention it to the Faculty, provided 
he heard of no more such conduct. I told him, I would go to 
Mr. Dunkin's recitation, and behave as I had done heretofore, if I 
saw no change in Mr. Dunkin's conduct towards me. I went ac- 
cordingly the next morning, with the firm conviction that the 
whole affair would be readily forgotten. I however was not call- 
ed upon to recite ; I thought nothing of this, as it was not a thing 
of rare occurrence, and went to my room as usual. In the eve- 
ning I was sent for by the President, but was not in my room, and 
did not know of it until the next morning (Wednesday.) I went 
to his study immediately after prayers in the morning. When I 
entered, he said he " wished to have this affair settled." I told 
him I thought it had been already settled ; he said, No, Mr. Dun- 



34 

kin considered me as one who did not acknowledge his authority, 
and could not look upon me in the light of a student. I then for 
the second time explicitly told him, I had not refused to recognize 
Mr. Dunkin's authority as Tutor ; that the authority I refused to 
acknowledge was that of obliging me to recite. He said Mr. 
Dunkin considered that I had refused to recognize his authority in 
the abstract ; I told him if Mr. Dunkin did think so, he wilfully 
misunderstood me, and I should not take the trouble to set him 
right. We afterwards had more conversation on the subject, he 
still insisting on my unsaying what I had said to Mr. Dunkin, 
which I as strenuously refused. When, seeing no probability of a 
compromise, I told him that rather than any more disturbance 
should ensue, and rather than stay and be quoted as a precedent 
for those of the Class, who might be disposed to disobey Mr. 
Dunkin, unpleasant as was the alternative, I would leave. I sta- 
ted to him also, that, as we had agreed the morning before, I had 
gone to Mr. Dunkin's recitation, and that he had not noticed me. 
He said Mr. Dunkin acted perfectly correctly, and did it inten- 
tionally. Then I told him I would not trouble his recitation again, 
but would ask permission to take up my connexion with the in- 
stitution. He said he would call a meeting of the Faculty and 
send for me. I told him I had nothing more to say than I had 
said to him and he had written down, and I did not wish to go 
before the Faculty, if it could be avoided. He said it was op- 
tional whether I came or not, but he would probably send for me. 
We then parted. When I called again, this morning, he had two 
statements materially different, which he said he had written as I 
dictated. The first I told him at the time was wrong, the second 
he did not read to me ; but when I objected to the first, and told 
him some of the statements were wrong, he said that was the way 
I had stated it to him first, and that the second statement, as it is 
in this paper, was made afterwards (on Wednesday morning.) 1 
feel confident my statements did not differ, as I spoke them to 
him, materially, in a single point. I was particular, because an 
investigation would, in all probability, be made into the affair by 
the Faculty." 

He did not know, nor was he informed, that he had a right to 
appeal to the Faculty, but only had the alternative of making an 



35 

apology or leaving. Why the Instructer should have been so 
eager to assert his dignity and authority in this particular case, 
while he neglected to report to the Faculty many instances of 
gross disrespect, we are not able to state. 

As soon as the circumstances of this affair were known, the 
classmates of this student manifested the greatest indignation, and 
although he earnestly requested them to make no disturbance, yet 
some of their number were so exasperated, as to show their dis- 
pleasure by breaking the windows and destroying the furniture in 
the recitation room of the obnoxious officer. For several succes- 
sive days there were, as is usual on all occasions of discontents, 
interruptions to the morning and evening prayers. In the mean- 
while a petition from the Sophomore Class, praying to be relieved 
from writing Greek — an exercise which has never been required 
till the present year, and which they considered as too great an 
exaction — had been rejected, or was understood to be rejected, 
by the Faculty. The two lower Classes, therefore, though from 
different motives, joined in these disturbances. 

On the morning of Saturday, the 24th of May, the President 
stopped the Freshman Class after prayers, and in the course of 
some remarks, declared to them, that no further notice would be 
taken of the disorders which had already occurred, unless they 
were continued. On that evening and the following day (Sunday) 
no disturbances took place ; and on the morning of Monday (May 
26th,) prayers were not interrupted, as is stated in the President's 
Circular. There is every reason to believe that all difficulties 
would have been at an end, had not the President called up seve- 
ral members of the Sophomore and Freshman Classes of high 
standing, both as regards scholarship and conduct, and told them 
that if these disturbances were repeated, it was the determination of 
the members of the Corporation to advise the Faculty, " to take such 
measures by legal process, civil or criminal, to punish or prevent 
such outrages as had been committed upon the College proper- 
ty," &c. The President says that he made this communication, 
not as a " threat" but as a " friendly notice.''' It is true that he 
read to these individuals the paper inserted in the Circular, 
but the manner in which he delivered it was extremely violent, 



36 

calculated to irritate their feelings and to leave on their minds the 
impression that it was a threat and not a warning. 

We cannot but think that the renewal of the disturbances was 
owing to a want of discretion on the part of the President ; for by 
this step, taken at a time when order had been restored, the whole 
College was exasperated. We then protested and we still protest 
against the measure, then threatened, and now put into execution, 
of bringing the matter before the civil tribunals of the State. By 
the laws of the University (Ch. viii. § 2.) it is provided : " If the 
perpetrator be not discovered, damage, when done to any inhabit- 
ed room or study, shall be made good by the occupants ; when 
done to an entry, by an equal assessment upon those inhabiting 
the entry ; when done to any public seat, table, or room, by an 
equal assessment upon those who occupy such seat, table, or room ; 
and when any other property belonging to the University is dam- 
aged, or destroyed, or purloined, it shall be made good by all the 
students who were in town at the time." So that the measure 
above mentioned is not necessary in order to recover damages. 
Should it be said, that an assessment upon all the students for 
depredations committed by a part of their body, would be unjust, 
we reply that besides this being the law of the University, there is 
no one of us who would not choose to pay such an assessment, 
rather than permit any of our number to suffer the disgrace of a 
public prosecution.* This disgrace to the young men, subjected 
to such a course, is immeasurably out of proportion to the offence 
committed, and it extends, moreover, to their parents and to the 
University. The depredations were committed in a moment of 
great excitement ; and though we declare our most decided dis- 
approbation of any such proceedings, yet when we consider the 
feelings of the perpetrators, and that the mode which they took of 
expressing their displeasure at treatment, which they esteemed 

* From information, obtained from the Steward of the University, we are 
able to state that the highest amount of damages is estimated at $300 ; and this 
divided among 210 students, gives $1,43 for the assessment on each individual. 
Within the last two or three years there have been larger charges for special 
repairs upon the term bills. The greater part of the above damages were in- 
curred on Thursday, the 29th of May, three days after the President had com- 
municated to certain members of the Sophomore and Freshman Classes the 
notice that " legal process would be instituted," &c. 



37 

unjust, was the one usual in such cases, we cannot but feel in the 
highest degree indignant that resort should be had to measures so 
exceedingly severe. Besides, in the present case, those concern- 
ed in the outrages could have been discovered through means pro- 
vided by the College Laws. Had the President required from 
each member of the Classes in question to inform what he knew 
of the injuries committed, they would have been obliged to de- 
clare who were guilty, or, according to one of the laws, would 
have been subject to punishment for an high offence. (Ch. xv. 
§ 3.) " Refusing to give testimony in any case when requested by 
the Faculty or a committee thereof ; or falsifying therein [is an 
high offence.] In all cases of an attempt to screen individuals, 
who have committed acts of disorder or violence, by withholding 
evidence, the Faculty may select for punishment any, who, by 
withholding evidence and screening the guilty, shall thus appear 
to the satisfaction of the Faculty to be actors in, or abettors of, the 
crime." Had such a course been adopted towards the members 
of these two Classes, we are confident that their sense of honor 
would have induced the guilty to surrender themselves to College 
punishment, rather than permit the rest to suffer on their account ; 
but when threatened with a criminal prosecution, many, of course, 
would make no confession that might criminate themselves. No 
milder means, that have come to our knowledge, were tried for the 
discovery of the perpetrators, and resort was had at the very first 
to a law which has seldom or never been carried into effect. In- 
deed, the President said to several members of the Freshman 
Class, that he had evidence amply sufficient against three or four 
students who were engaged in the late depredations on the Col- 
lege property. Why legal process was instituted, when these 
three or four offenders were known, we have not been able to 
ascertain. 

We by no means claim an exemption from the laws of the 
Commonwealth, and should any student injure the person or prop- 
erty of any citizen, so far from interfering, we should rejoice to see 
punishment inflicted upon him according to the law. But the 
relation between the students and the University is very different 
from that which subsists between one citizen and another. The 
government of the College is said to be towards us " in loco pa- 

6 



38 

rentis" and ought certainly to use every means in its power to 
avoid any step, which tends, as this undoubtedly does, to the de- 
struction of those feelings of kindness, which should exist between 
students and their instructers. Therefore we think that a regard 
for the feelings both of the students and their parents, and a regard 
for the honour and interests of the Institution, should have pre- 
vented the Faculty from taking a step so rash and precipitate. 

On the evening of Monday, May 26th, the day on which cer- 
tain members aforementioned of the Sophomore and Freshman 
Classes were called up by the President, the disturbances were 
renewed by those Classes. Immediately after, a meeting of the 
Faculty was held and one of the Freshmen, said to have been 
detected in scraping at prayers, was called up before them. The 

President then said to him ; " Mr. do you acknowledge or 

deny the charge of making violent disturbances at prayers ?" " I 
deny it." " There is one of the Faculty who is willing to swear 
that he saw you scrape with your feet at prayers, one evening last 
week." The student then said ; " Sir, if one of the members of 
the Faculty is willing to swear that he saw me make disturbances 
at prayers, I think it probable that it is true, but I do not recollect 
the circumstance to which he alludes" The President told him to 
op to his room and stav there till sent for. When he returned the 
President read to him some of the laws, and said : " Having vio- 
lated these laws, your connexions with the College cease from this 
time, and you have nothing more to do with the College buildings 
and appurtenances." These, as nearly as recollected by the stu- 
dent, are the words that passed, certainly the substance of what 

was said ; from which Mr. himself understood that he should 

never have permission to return, and such too was the impression 
of the students generally. 

It will be perceived from this statement, that this student was 
accused of having made disturbances on the week preceding Mon- 
day the 26th ; and the statement in the President's Circular, 
which says, that " the same disturbances were repeated the same 
evening (Monday), and one of the Freshmen was detected in 
making them," is incorrect ; and we have found from positive 
testimony, that on that evening the student in question did not 
make any disturbance whatsoever in prayers. 



39 

When the circumstances of his dismissal were known throughout 
College, a meeting of the four Classes was held, and a petition for 
the recall of this Freshman, signed by nearly two hundred students, 
was presented to the Faculty. After two days' consideration, 
during which there was no disturbance, unless the absence of the 
Sophomore Class from prayers may be so considered, the petition 
was rejected. On the morning of the 29th, the Sophomores came 
into prayers in a body, and, in consequence of the disturbances, 
which they made, the services were not performed. After com- 
mons the whole Sophomore Class, with three exceptions, was 
dismissed. In the afternoon, meetings of the other three Classes 
were held, separately, to receive the answer of the Faculty to the 
petition, presented two days before. Much indignation was ex- 
pressed when the result was communicated. The general impres- 
sion was, that the Freshman was dismissed without the possibility 
of returning, which, he being unmatriculated, was contrary to the 
laws ; and another committee from the Senior Class was appointed 
to obtain from the President explicit information on this point. 
When it was ascertained that the student could return, the Senior 
Class was satisfied. The Junior and Freshman Classes, however, 
passed resolutions to make disturbances at prayers that evening. 

The reasons for the general belief that Mr. was "selected" 

by the Faculty and punished for an offence which he had com- 
mitted in common with his Class, are these : — 

He had attended none of the late Class-meetings, and had not 
participated, in the slightest degree, in any of the depredations 
which had been committed on the College property. — The Pres- 
ident informed him, and the committee, which carried up the pe- 
tition, that " one of the Faculty was ready to swear that he saw 
him scrape at prayers ;" now this student was so situated in the 
chapel as to have rendered it very difficult for any one of the 
Faculty to have seen him making any such disturbance. This 
circumstance seemed very strange, and we are not able to explain 
it. Before his admission to College, the President, among other 
observations, used words to this effect : " Mr. there is some- 
thing about your air, which makes me think you will not have 
much respect for the Faculty,; now all the Faculty, except my- 
self, have to work for their living, and perhaps they might not like 



40 

your manners." He also cautioned him, though from the South, 
against the company of Southerners. It is not strange, then, that 
it should be thought from these circumstances that there existed a 
prejudice against this individual. 

We understand that the President has publicly denied ever hav- 
ing declared to Southerners that he did not wish any of them in 
the College, or advised them to go somewhere else ; but, on in- 
vestigation, we find that there are many, who are willing to testify 
on oath, when it shall be required, that he has used such language 
towards them. Such observations may be forgotten by those who 
make them, but they are not soon or easily effaced from the mem- 
ory of those to whom they are addressed. 

At evening prayers of this day (Thursday, May 29th) the Ju- 
niors and Freshmen, according to their vote, made a disturbance. 
One of the Juniors, being detected, was dismissed for not less than 
a year. A meeting of his Class was immediately held, and it was 
voted, " to wear crape on the left arm for three weeks, to publish 
an article in the papers in relation to the conduct of the President, 
and to burn him in effigy." 

It is stated in the President's Circular, that on Friday morn- 
ing, two Freshmen, " both of whom admitted they had led the 
Class into the hall," &c. From this, one would naturally 
suppose that these individuals were the leaders of their Class in 
this affair ; but the truth is, that they had no leader, and had 
voted to walk in, as much as possible, in a body, so that no one 
might be singled out for punishment, and it was by mere accident 
that these two individuals entered the chapel first. If they were 
dismissed justly, the whole Class ought to have been dismissed. 

After a careful investigation of facts, we are of opinion that the 
late disturbances in the University have not been altogether " with- 
out cause or apology," as stated in the President's Circular ; and 
although we declare our decided disapprobation of all the depreda- 
tions and outrages which have been committed, yet we must say, 
they were not without provocation, and that the fault lies by no 
means upon the students alone. 

Perhaps the circumstances which we have related, have been 
only the immediate occasion of the recent disturbances. The 
causes have been long in operation. Besides the local prejudices, 



41 

to which we have above alluded, the manners of President Quincy 
toward many of the students have not been such as to conciliate 
their esteem or affection. His defective memory, and the natural 
impetuosity of his character, often give him the appearance of act- 
ing in an arbitrary and capricious manner ; and though his friends 
allow his sincerity and integrity, yet it cannot be wondered at that 
many of the students, whom he has not made his friends, should 
entertain a different opinion. 

In relating these circumstances we have endeavoured to be as 
impartial as possible, and have stated no fact for the truth of which 
we have not obtained positive evidence. 

June \lth, 1834. 






(D.) 
STATEMENT. 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 

JULY 31, 1834. 



The President of Harvard University respectfully submits to 
the Board of Overseers, of that Seminary, the following statement 
of facts, relative to the late disturbances in the University, with 
the general course of" proceedings adopted by the Faculty of the 
College, touching those disturbances, and the present relations of 
the University, in respect of those facts and proceedings. 

This he does, in conformity with the wishes expressed, at the 
last meeting of the Board, by some of its members, and also with 
the wishes, apparently, entertained by the Board itself, as indicated 
by its adjournment for this purpose, to the present day. 

In doing this, however, he desires that it may be distinctly un- 
derstood that this statement and all views expressed in it, are acts 
done on his own responsibility, as a member of this Board, and 
having no authority, in this respect, from either of the Boards, at 
which, by his official station, he is called to preside. 

As to those facts and proceedings, which occurred antecedent to 
the 4th of June last, they have already been communicated to 
every member of the Board of Overseers, in a printed statement 
of that date, prepared for and sent to the parents and guardians of 
the undergraduates, and which was also transmitted to each mem- 
ber of this Board. To that printed statement, the President asks 



43 

leave to refer, and to make a part of the present communication.* 
Immediately after that statement had been printed and distributed, 
the Faculty of the College caused to be prepared and sent to the 
parents and guardians of the dismissed students of the Sophomore 
Class, a circular, specifying the principles on which that dismission 
had taken place, and by which the readmission of those students 
would be regulated ; a printed copy of which dated 9th of June 
last is hereto annexed, f This also the President asks leave to 
make part of this statement. 

During the succeeding part of the week, between the 4th and 
7th of June, the determination of the Faculty to resort to the 
Courts of Law, being then known to the students, and also that 
steps, for that purpose, had been taken, new indications of an ex- 
cited state of feeling, appeared among them, particularly among 
members of the Junior Class. None of those indications, so far 
as was, at that time, known to the Faculty, were of a character to 
render any special action or animadversion of that body, requisite. 

On the seventh of June, (Saturday) it was deemed proper, to 
prohibit any member of the Seminary from visiting Concord dur- 
ing the then ensuing week, unless summoned there, or specially 
licensed by the President ; that being the week, on which the 
Court of Common Pleas was to be holden, at which the prosecu- 
tions had been instituted. A vote to this effect was accordingly 
passed by the Faculty, and communicated to the students on the 
ensuing Monday by the President. 

In the course of that week, two indictments were found against 
three individuals, members of the Sophomore Class ; one indict- 
ment against the three for a trespass ; the other indictment against 
one of the same three individuals, for an assault on the College 
watch, in the night time. 

After which, all proceedings upon the indictments were continued 
to the next meeting of the Court, on the second Monday in Sep- 
tember next, according to the usual course in such cases, by the 
order of the Court ; without any interference on the part of the 
Faculty. • 

On the 7th of June, (Saturday) the President, having been in- 
formed that a meeting of the Senior Class had been holden, without 

* See document A. annexed. t See document B. annexed. 



■ 



44 

license from him, and a Committee appointed to make report to 
that Class, on the subject of the recent disturbances in the Univer- 
sity, immediately called a meeting of the Faculty, at which a vote 
was passed, requesting the President to read the law on the subject 
of Class meetings to the students, and to notify to them that its pro- 
visions would be strictly enforced. 

This proceeding was had and this notice given on the succeed- 
ing Monday, (9th of June.) On the next day (Tuesday 10th of 
June) a petition from several members of the Senior Class, calling 
themselves a Committee of that Class, was presented to the Fac- 
ulty, asking leave to hold a Class meeting for the purpose of pre- 
senting a report to that Class, relative to the late disturbances, and 
pledging themselves that nothing should be done, at that meeting, 
contrary to the Laws of the University. 

The Faculty in terms, indicating a confidence, in the intentions 
of that Class, " from considerations of a general nature, in their 
judgment, very serious and impressive, declined acceding to the 
request of this Committee." 

On the 18th of June, a publication, which, in the course of the 
preceding week had been made, purporting to be the act of the 
Senior Class, was laid before the Faculty by one of the members 
of the Board, and a Committee was thereupon raised to make them- 
selves acquainted with that publication, and to consider, whether 
any and what action, if any, should be had thereon by the Faculty. 

On the 23d of June, that Committee reported that an investiga- 
tion ought to be made relative to that publication, which report, 
after debate on that day, was postponed until the 24th, when after 
a further debate, it was voted, that the nature of the Seniors' Cir- 
cular and the circumstances, under which it was issued, required 
the action of the Board. At this meeting, the Board taking into 
consideration the excited state of the College, in relation to its pro- 
ceedings, voted, that an injunction of secrecy should be considered 
as a rule adopted in relation to its proceedings on the Seniors' Cir- 
cular, until removed by the Board. 

On the 25th of June, the Board voted that an investigation into 
the Seniors' Circular should be instituted, and a Committee was 
appointed to take into consideration and report the questions which 
should be proposed to the members of the Senior Class on that 
subject. 



45 

On the 27th of June, that Committee reported the questions to 
be proposed to the members of that Class, having for their object 
to ascertain the part each took in that publication, in respect of 
preparing, writing, publishing, signing, or procuring its acceptance 
by the Class ; and also the view each then entertained, relating to 
the propriety of that publication. 

On the 30th of June, the questions reported by the Committee 
were proposed to each member of the Class, then in Cambridge ; 
after which the minutes taken of their respective answers, on this 
examination, was referred to a Committee of the Board, to consid- 
er what farther proceedings ought to be had. 

On the same evening, the officiating clergyman, at evening 
prayers, reported to the Board that offensive noises had been made, 
that evening, at prayers, by members of the Freshman Class. 
The Faculty immediately proceeded to examine every member of 
that Class, individually, on the subject. 

On the 1st of July, the examination was finished, and two stu- 
dents were separated from the College, in consequence of their 
participation in those disturbances ; one, for a year, he being an 
unmatriculated student ; the other, for five months. 

On the 2d of July, the Committee appointed to examine and 
compare the minutes taken at the inquiry made of the members of 
the Senior Class, relative to their Circular, reported that five Seniors 
were concerned in preparing the Circular; — that three other 
Seniors had been active in promoting its acceptance by the Class ; 
— that twenty-eight were only approvers of it; — that fourteen 
took no part in it ; — and that two, who were absent, had not been 
examined, nor whether they had any concern in it, ascertained. 

For each individual of the two first portions, the Committee 
recommended some specific punishment, adjusted to the relative 
criminality of each ; regarding the case of one individual as clear- 
ly distinguishable from the rest, and perhaps admitting exemption 
from punishment. With respect to the third portion, the Com- 
mittee recommended that the consideration of the course to be pur- 
sued with them, should be postponed until the discipline thought 
proper to be administered to the others should be applied. 

This report having been accepted, the question concerning the 
punishment to be inflicted on the eight Seniors, came under con- 

7 



46 

sideration on the 4th of July, and after debate, it was postponed 
to the 7th of July, when it was voted, that the eight Seniors, in- 
cluded in the two first portions, should be sent for, and charged 
with a moral and academic offence, in writing, or publishing, or 
inducing others to sign a publication, charging the Government of 
the University with acting rashly and unjustly, in the execution of 
the Laws ; and involving the principle that undergraduates, re- 
sponsible to the Laws, may appeal to the public against their ad- 
ministration of them: — and that they should each be informed 
that they had liberty to make any remarks, by way of exculpation 
or defence. 

The preceding vote was carried into execution, on the 9th of 
July ; and on the 1 Oth, whatever each individual had said, either 
in exculpation or defence, having been considered, it was voted, 
as it respects seven of the eight Seniors, that they should be dis- 
missed from the College for an indefinite term ; and prohibited 
from appearing in the town of Cambridge, or having any connex- 
ion with it, until after the first day of September next. With 
respect to the eighth Senior, it was voted, that he should be pub- 
licly admonished ; the effect of which was to deprive him of his 
part at the ensuing Commencement, but not of his degree. 

After this, the Faculty proceeded to assign parts for Commence- 
ment, on the usual principles to the remaining members of the 
Senior Class. But in consideration of the tendency to excitement, 
existing in the College, and if possible to save the students from 
the effects of their own passions and sympathies, it was deemed 
highly expedient for the interest of the College, and accordingly 
voted, that neither the punishments nor the parts should be com- 
municated until after the vacation, then about to ensue, had com- 
menced ; and that then, both should be communicated by an of- 
ficial letter from the President. It was also deemed expedient that 
both should be done cotemporaneously, and that the injunction of 
secrecy should not be removed until such communication had been 
made. Votes to such effect were passed. The vacation com- 
menced on Wednesday, the 16th of July. On the evening of the 
17th, the punishments were communicated to the eight students, 
and the parts distributed to those to whom they had been assigned, 
in .conformity with the votes of the Board. 



47 

The principle of discrimination, adopted by the Faculty, in 
respect of the punishments inflicted on the principal offenders, 
and remitted as to the remainder of the Senior Class, had its sanc- 
tion in the 1 5th Chapter of the Laws of the University, relative 
to undergraduates; and which is in the following terms — "In 
cases of combination to resist, or disobey the Faculty or the Laws 
of the University, if so many be actors, or abettors, as to render it 
inexpedient to punish all concerned, the Faculty will select for 
punishment as many of the offenders as they may judge necessary 
to serve the end of punishment ; and those who have been most 
culpable, when known, shall be selected for punishment." 

The above is believed to be an exact statement of all the ma- 
terial facts relative to the recent disturbances in the University, so 
far as they have come under the cognizance of the Faculty, and 
also of the general course of proceedings adopte(J by that body 
touching those disturbances. 

With respect to the present relations of the University, in re- 
spect of those facts and proceedings, they are as follows : — 

The dismissed members of the Sophomore Class, will be ex- 
amined for readmission upon their application, on, or after the 
Saturday preceding Commencement, according to the principles 
stated in the Circular to the parents or guardians of those dismis- 
sed Sophomores, dated the 9th of June last. 

Seven Seniors have been dismissed for an indefinite term, and 
thereby deprived of their Degrees, the present year, for their con- 
cern in the publication called the Seniors' Circular ; and one has 
been admonished and thus deprived of his part at Commencement, 
though not of his Degree, for his participation in that publication. 

All which is respectfully submitted by 
JOSIAH QUINCY, 

President of Harvard University. 



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